Google offers big prize for small power box

July 23, 2014

Google is offering a million-dollar prize for a breakthrough that would make solar or wind generated electricity more enticing for everyday uses

Google is offering a million-dollar prize for a breakthrough that would make solar or wind generated electricity more enticing for everyday uses.

Google teamed with the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers to back a "Littlebox Challenge" promising to reward whoever comes up with the best design for a device no bigger than a laptop that can efficiently convert direct current to alternating current commonly used in homes and businesses.

Renewable energy sources such as solar panels and wind turbines create direct current that must be converted into alternating current, the system for which now involves complex power grids and sources such as fossil or nuclear fuels.

The challenge is to shrink power converters to about a tenth of their present size, which was described as on par with large picnic coolers.

"There will be obstacles to overcome; like the conventional wisdom of engineering," Eric Raymond of the Google Green Team said in an online post announcing the challenge.

"But whoever gets it done will help change the future of electricity."

Small inverters could make it possible to accomplish handy feats such as creating low-cost power grids in remote places or using car batteries to keep lights on in homes during blackouts, according to Raymond.

"We think it's time to shine a light on the humble inverter, and the potential that lies in making it much, much smaller," Raymond said.

Related Stories

Even though today most of the electricity transmission lines are alternating current ones, in some cases direct current lines are also used.And researchers are becoming aware that in some cases direct current lines are more ...

In a recent article on The Conversation, University of Melbourne Professor Emeritus Frank Larkins wrote that Australia's targets to increase renewable energy will make electricity more expensive, thanks to problems with consistency ...

(Phys.org) —Renewable energy sources such as wind-powered generators can be more reliable and efficient by better controlling the process of getting electricity onto the power grid, according to a United States patent based ...

After years of neglect, scientists and policy makers are focusing more attention on developing technologies needed to make the so-called "green grid" possible, according to an article in ACS' Chemical Reviews. That's the ...

NTT DOCOMO, INC., Japan's leading mobile operator, announced that from April, it will begin field testing three conventional mobile-network base stations that have been installed with solar panels, high-capacity rechargeable ...

On the theory that a driver who knows when a red light will turn green is more relaxed and aware, vehicle manufacturer Audi is unveiling this week in Las Vegas a technology that enables vehicles to "read" traffic signals ...